To soak or not to soak?

[Healing1]

Hello everyone,
I am going to venture into nut and seed butters. I see receipes with soaking the nuts or seeds first and some without. Is there a difference taste wise or nutritionwise? Are there any hard and fast rules to stop me from making myself sick?

[Mommax4]

Soaking breaks down the inhibitors and makes them more digestable for your body. I love the way soaked nuts taste, to me it has a better taste.

[maraw]

One of my favorite rules is to get a nice firm banana and dip it into a big container of raw almond butter and eat it all by myself without sharing a bite.

I realize this is not the rule you were looking for, but I had to share it anyway. Lisa is right though, soaking does make nuts more easily digested. It gives them a slightly different texture too - great for making butters. You can also soak and then dehydrate to get a drier texture.

Best wishes,
Anna

[rawgrrl]

One of my favorite rules is to get a nice firm banana and dip it into a big container of raw almond butter and eat it all by myself without sharing a bite.

I realize this is not the rule you were looking for, but I had to share it anyway.

LOL. That was great. That just made my day.

[Healing1]

Thanks, I take it from your posts that I can not hurt myself by doing it wrong? Its a matter of preference for recipies?
Great! I love flexibility, no hard and fast rules.

[sweetgoddess]

Some of the recipes that call for unsoaked nuts, if you soak them the recipe will not turn out right. It is preferrable to soak them first in order to break down the enzyme inhibitors and make them easier to digest of course. But the recipes that call specifically for unsoaked nuts are going for a different texture than a soaked nut would give.